Tuesday, September 27, 2016

“It’s either lose our kids or save our lives”

"Picking at her long nails, painted gold and black, Kayla Duggan speaks calmly as she recalls the darkest time in her life. It’s one familiar to thousands of women across the country.

Duggan tells her parenting counselors about the pain of catching only glimpses of her son growing up.

At age 3, Giovanni is now walking and talking, but a foster mother tucks him in at night.

Parenting for Duggan, as with thousands of other young mothers battling heroin addiction, has been reduced to a few hours in the park, when she grasps at small details and wonders: Why is her son wearing girls’ shorts? How did he get that bruise? What is Giovanni’s life like during those many hours and days when he is not with her?"

Sitting with her son Giovanni’s mostly unused toys, Kayla Duggan is reminded yet again of what her heroin addiction has cost her. Her son is in foster care and, like thousands of other addicted moms, Duggan’s attempts to regain custody are thwarted both by her addiction and a lack of the one kind of treatment that could help her recover. ALLAN JUNG/ MetroWest Daily News